Swiener, I have had my PG500 for 3 years now and have not burned my arm (yet) when grilling. The size/length of tongs helps keep your arm out of harm's way (12" or 18"). Size I use depends on size of meat pieces I'm grilling. I think only opening one small door when grilling vs opening that whole hood loses less heat, but have no way to compare. I find that the fire pot is putting out plenty of heat when adjusted for higher grilling temps and that recovery time is minimal. What the temperature is over at the "smoking" side is not what the temp is over at the grilling side when food is over that fire pot & flame tamer. Plenty of heat there.
Don't know that PG500 would burn 2-3 times more pellets than PG1000, but it would burn more than the PG1000 - check Cookshack's specs on both or call them up if that is a major factor to you.
Like Cal, I would buy the PG500 again if I were to need another one.